Downtown Minneapolis real estate owned by the Star Tribune could be back in play for a future Minnesota Vikings stadium, the governor’s point man on the issue said Tuesday.

“One of the ideas is to buy the Star Tribune land and put up a stadium there while the Vikings play in the Metrodome,” said Ted Mondale, Gov. Mark Dayton’s liaison tasked with helping to finesse any deal that could keep the team in Minnesota. Mondale chairs the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, which owns the Metrodome.

The newspaper and the team declined to comment, and details were sketchy.

The disclosure comes as talk of a deal for a new stadium gains pace:

Legislators are awaiting direction to introduce a financing plan for what could be a $1 billion construction project.

Ramsey County has made official its desire to look into building a stadium in Arden Hills.

The Metrodome is adjacent to four blocks of land owned by the Star Tribune that were the subject of a $45 million stadium-related deal with the Vikings that fell through in 2007 amid the faltering economy. Mondale suggested Tuesday that the public could possibly buy the newspaper’s land.

Recent talk of a Vikings stadium on the site of the Metrodome had been confined to the notion that the Dome would be demolished and a stadium built on the site — a plan essentially endorsed by the city of Minneapolis for years.

But Mondale said the team stands to lose $10 million to $15 million each year it’s not in a professional football facility that can bring in full attendance and revenues from premium ticket sales.

And Lester Bagley, the team’s vice president of public affairs and stadium development, recently told the Pioneer Press that any plan to demolish the Dome and build anew there would force the team to play at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium for “probably three seasons” while the new facility was constructed.

Mondale said the whole point of a possible Star Tribune land purchase would be to avoid that situation by allowing the team to continue playing until a new stadium is finished.

“It would be seamless,” he said.

Another benefit would be that repairs to the Dome’s snow-collapsed roof would reap more than merely a single season of occupancy.

Star Tribune board chairman Mike Sweeney and a spokesman could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The paper reported on its website that Sweeney declined to comment.

Mondale said he considers there to be five possible scenarios for a new stadium:

Build at the abandoned Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant near Interstate 35W and U.S. 10 in Arden Hills.

Assemble parcels of land, including the current location of a farmers market, west of the Minnesota Twins’ Target Field in downtown Minneapolis, and build there.

Build in Brooklyn Park on land owned by Target Corp.

Mondale said it was premature to rank the possible sites but suggested that was something the Vikings were likely already in the process of doing.

However, he did say the Brooklyn Park site is a long shot because of public financing challenges.

Rybak and Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson oppose the farmers market site, but Mondale said it shouldn’t be discounted.

“There’s a lot of energy for that site,” he said. “Some downtown leaders like that site for the entertainment district it could help create.”

The notion of an entertainment district encompassing Target Field and its surrounding real estate has surfaced in conversations among a group of business and civic leaders in Minneapolis brainstorming ideas for the city during the next decade and beyond.

“We have 100 prominent business leaders, elected leaders, stakeholders all talking about downtown in general and what it could become, and there are a lot of ideas, some of which may not survive,” said Sam Grabarski, president of the Minneapolis Downtown Council.

Grabarski is also president of Homefield Advantage, an umbrella organization of civic groups that seeks to encourage professional sports franchises to stay in Minneapolis.

“We are interested in two sites for a Vikings facility: the current Metrodome site, and what some people are calling the farmers market site,” he said. “But we see some good advantages to the Metrodome site, pending investigation.”

Mondale’s comments followed a real estate forum where he shared the stage with Bagley, the first time the two have appeared publicly together. During the event in Bloomington, sponsored by the Minnesota chapter of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, Bagley laid out a general case for the importance of the Vikings finding a stadium deal.

In response to a question from the audience, Bagley speculated on the prospect of the Vikings buying a professional soccer franchise.

“It’s a great market for soccer,” he said of the Twin Cities, adding that strong attendance could help generate revenue outside the NFL season. “There are a number of NFL teams that own soccer teams, like Seattle. … Soccer is a viable option.”

Afterward, Bagley said the team’s owners had not actually bid on a soccer team, and he downplayed the prospect in the context of a stadium plan, emphasizing such a decision, like stadium naming rights, would come after a stadium deal is reached.

“That’s a discussion we would have down the road,” he said.

Mondale also said he would push for a provision in any stadium bill that would place all the major public metro stadiums, including Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and Target Center in Minneapolis, under the same stadium authority to avoid competition between them that can lead to higher booking fees.

“I don’t know where the governor is on that but I would advocate for it,” he said.

Both Mondale and Bagley declined to discuss the big questions about a stadium deal: How much would the Vikings be willing to pay and how much should the taxpayers be willing to pay?

“If Lester’s too happy when we get a deal done, I haven’t done my job,” Mondale said. “This is a deal that, when it’s done, everyone’s going to be mad.”

As outdoors editor for the Pioneer Press, Orrick fishes, paddles, hunts, skis and romps across the region while staying on top of outdoors news. When the occasion demands, he's also been known to cover topics ranging from politics to golf. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and son.​

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